Six Saint Mary's College students will present their scientific research projects at the annual Sigma Xi undergraduate research conference in Detroit in early November.

Among the presenters will be senior Katie Azevedo, who was awarded the prestigious Joseph P. McKenna Science Award for best poster presentation at a ceremony held in Brousseau Hall on Oct. 6. Her project monitored pollution in Joshua Tree National Park and the award, presented by Dean of Science Brian Jersky, represented the first time that it has gone to an environmental science project.

"It is a huge honor," Azevedo told the Collegian. "I didn"t expect it. This award gives me confidence that my work was good and acceptable in the scientific community."

Joining Azevedo at the annual meeting of the Sigma Xi scientific research society in Detroit on Nov. 2-5 will be senior Annie Chase, senior David Drummond, junior Emily King, Michael Pisarek '06 and sophomore Jia Shen. The conference offers a research competition as well as networking opportunities for students from more than 100 colleges in North America. At last year's conference, seven Saint Mary's College students were honored for their research projects, the largest number of high-level ratings of any college.

During the Oct. 6 ceremony on campus, 14 students displayed poster presentations of original research they performed during the summer under the guidance of Saint Mary's faculty members. While some conducted their research on campus, others traveled to sites including Los Alamos National Laboratory and Harvey Mudd College.